2026-05-06 美国东部时间下午12:46 / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
作者：克里斯托弗·兰姆、詹妮弗·汉斯勒
美国国务卿马可·鲁比奥与教皇利奥十四世。
盖蒂图片社
美国国务卿马可·鲁比奥将于周四与教皇利奥十四世会面，时值华盛顿与梵蒂冈关系处于历史性紧张阶段。
鲁比奥此次访问此前，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普对天主教会2000年历史上首位美国籍教皇提出了激烈批评，此前这位教皇公开反对美国在伊朗的军事行动。利奥还一直为难民和移民的利益发声，这与特朗普政府的立场形成鲜明对比。
在启程前，这位美国最高外交官驳斥了有关此次与利奥教皇会面是为了重新调整与梵蒂冈外交关系的说法——多年来美国一直将梵蒂冈作为人道主义合作伙伴。不过他也承认，“与梵蒂冈有很多话题要谈”，其中包括古巴问题。
“此次访问别无他意，只是我们与他们接触本就是正常之举，”鲁比奥周二在白宫新闻发布会上说道。
他此次访问罗马和梵蒂冈之际，特朗普不仅抨击了教皇对战争的看法，还严厉批评了美国的长期欧洲盟友——这让跨大西洋关系受到数十年来罕见的考验。鲁比奥将于周五与意大利总理焦尔吉娅·梅洛尼会面，此前特朗普批评意大利没有支持美国对伊朗的战争。
鲁比奥将于周四上午在梵蒂冈宗座宫与教皇会面，预计他还将与其他梵蒂冈高级官员举行会谈，其中包括圣座国务卿彼得罗·帕罗林枢机主教。
这是虔诚的天主教徒鲁比奥与这位出生于芝加哥的教皇的第二次会面，也是本届政府成员近一年来首次已知的与利奥教皇的会面。鲁比奥和副总统J·D·万斯曾在去年教皇就职弥撒后与他会面。
上个月，特朗普在“真相社交”平台发布长文，批评利奥“在犯罪问题上软弱无力，外交政策一塌糊涂”。
“利奥作为教皇应该振作起来，运用常识，不再迎合激进左派，专注于成为一位伟大的教皇，而非政客。这正在严重损害他的形象，更重要的是，正在损害天主教会！”特朗普写道。
利奥教皇次日回应称，他“不怕”特朗普政府，将继续为和平发声，但坚称与美国总统辩论“不符合我的利益”。一名梵蒂冈官员后来淡化了紧张局势，带着苦笑告诉CNN：“特朗普总统太聪明了，不会与一位来自美国的教皇开战。”
但特朗普对利奥的攻击不仅前所未有，而且持续不断。周一，特朗普再次将矛头对准教皇，称他“危及大量天主教徒和民众”，并声称利奥对伊朗拥有核武器一事感到高兴。
这些言论似乎招致了意大利外长的谴责。意大利外长周二表示，对教皇的攻击不可接受，也无助于和平事业。
教皇称应“以事实”进行批评
周二，利奥表示人们有权批评他，但批评者应“以事实为依据”，并表示“教会的使命是传扬福音与和平”。针对特朗普有关核武器的言论，教皇表示，教会多年来“一直公开反对所有核武器，这一点毋庸置疑”。鲁比奥周二也淡化了特朗普最新的抨击。
自去年5月当选以来，根据公开记录，首位美国籍教皇从未与特朗普有过直接接触。梵蒂冈已明确表示，2026年不会有教皇访美计划，主要原因是11月的中期选举，教皇不会在选举前夕访问其他国家。
1月22日，五角大楼与时任教皇驻美国大使举行了一次不同寻常的会议，此后两国紧张局势进一步升级。尽管梵蒂冈和五角大楼都否认了部分有关会议内容的报道，但一名梵蒂冈消息人士告诉CNN，此次会议“前所未有”且“气氛紧张”。
官员们表示，周四的会面将试图摆脱公开的互相指责，回归圣座青睐的幕后外交。梵蒂冈官员安东尼奥·斯帕达罗神父认为，鲁比奥与教皇的会面将“缓和言辞”；而美国驻圣座大使布莱恩·伯奇本周对记者表示，国务卿此行是为了“就美国政策进行坦诚对话，展开交流”。
尽管此次访问的主要目的并非政治，但如果鲁比奥能够缓和紧张局势，可能会带来积极效果。尽管许多天主教徒投票支持特朗普连任，但一些专家质疑攻击教皇的政治动机。CNN首席数据分析师哈里·恩滕指出，利奥教皇的民调支持率很高。在批评教皇后，特朗普还发布了一张自己身着基督形象的AI合成图片并随后删除，他后来称这张图是将自己描绘成一名医生。
古巴或成共同议题
周四的会谈可能还会讨论古巴问题。特朗普政府加强了对这个岛国的经济封锁，试图迫使哈瓦那达成政治协议，美国总统还不断提及军事干预的可能性。
与此同时，梵蒂冈在古巴积极开展外交活动，并协助促成了近期的囚犯释放。鲁比奥周二表示，特朗普政府曾与天主教会合作，在该岛分发了600万美元的人道主义援助。
“顺便说一句，我们愿意提供更多人道主义援助，通过教会进行分发，”鲁比奥补充道。
关注梵蒂冈外交的智库阿皮亚研究所所长弗朗切斯科·西斯奇表示：“他们会谈论古巴，不谈才奇怪。但细节决定成败。”他表示，尽管梵蒂冈会支持古巴政治领导层的“过渡”，但要求教皇为任何暴力行动祈福非常困难。
西斯奇告诉CNN，教会会“考虑鲁比奥来访的善意”，但会“警惕被操纵”。他将此次会面比作现代版的“卡诺萨之行”，指的是1077年神圣罗马帝国皇帝亨利四世公开道歉并归顺教皇格列高利七世的历史事件。
鲁比奥周二还表示，双方在非洲基督教少数群体受迫害问题上可能存在共识，利奥教皇近期刚刚访问过非洲。
“我们有很多话题可以聊，在这方面我已经与他们进行了不少交流，”他说。
不过，教皇与特朗普政府之间的分歧依然显著。乔治城大学天主教社会思想与公共生活倡议高级研究员克里斯托弗·怀特表示，伊朗战争将是此次会面的“首要议题”，此外还有“移民和弱势群体待遇、人工智能问题以及美国国际开发署的预算削减”。
“在总统对教皇发起前所未有的攻击——以及亵渎性地使用宗教意象——之后，本届政府正试图重新调整与梵蒂冈的关系，很可能也是为了向许多对这种行为感到震惊的天主教徒致歉，”怀特说道。他曾在利奥十四世当选前与其有过接触，也是《教皇利奥十四世：闭门枢机会议与新教皇时代的黎明》一书的作者。
Rubio to meet Pope Leo after weeks of tensions with Trump
2026-05-06 12:46 PM ET / CNN
By Christopher Lamb, Jennifer Hansler
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Pope Leo XIV.
Getty Images
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will sit down with Pope Leo XIV on Thursday amid a historic period of tension between Washington and the Vatican.
Rubio’s visit follows President Donald Trump’s extraordinary criticisms of the first American pope in the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history, which came after the pontiff expressed his opposition to the US military operation in Iran. Leo has also continued to speak for the interests of refugees and migrants, in sharp contrast to the Trump administration.
Ahead of his departure, the top US diplomat dismissed the notion that the meeting with Pope Leo is an attempt to re-set diplomatic relations with the Vatican, which the US has relied on as a humanitarian partner for years. He did acknowledge, however, that “there’s a lot to talk about with the Vatican,” including Cuba.
“The trip is really not tied to anything other than the fact that it would be normal for us to engage with them,” Rubio said at a White House press briefing Tuesday.
His trip to Rome and the Vatican comes as Trump has lashed out not only at the pope for his views on the war but also lambasted the US’ longtime European allies – further testing the transatlantic relationship in ways not seen in decades. Rubio will meet on Friday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni amid ongoing criticism by Trump for what he said was Italy’s lack of support for the US’ war against Iran.
Rubio will meet the pope in the Vatican’s apostolic palace on Thursday morning, and he is also expected to sit down with other top Vatican officials including Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State.
It is the second meeting between Rubio, who is a devout Catholic, and the Chicago-born pope, and the first known meeting between a member of the administration and Leo in almost a year. Rubio and Vice President JD Vance met him after his inauguration mass last year.
In a lengthy Truth Social post last month, Trump criticized Leo as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
“Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!,” Trump wrote.
Pope Leo responded a day later that he had “no fear” of the Trump administration and would continue speaking for peace but insisted that it was “not in my interest” to debate the US president. One Vatican official, later playing down the tensions, told CNN with a wry smile that “President Trump is too intelligent to be in a battle with a pope from the United States”.
But Trump’s attacks on Leo are not only unprecedented, but ongoing. On Monday, Trump once again took aim at the pope, saying that he was “endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people” with Trump claiming Leo is happy with Iran having a nuclear weapon.
The comments appeared to draw a rebuke from Italy’s foreign minister, who on Tuesday said that the attacks against the pontiff were not acceptable nor helpful to the cause of peace.
Pope says he should be criticized ‘with the truth’
On Tuesday, Leo said that people are free to criticize him, although they should “do so with the truth” and that “the mission of the Church is to preach the Gospel and peace.” On Trump’s claims about nuclear weapons, the pope said the church has for years “spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt on that point.” Rubio on Tuesday downplayed Trump’s latest broadside.
Since his election last May, the first American pope has not had any direct contact – according to the public record – with Trump. The Vatican has made it clear that there will be no papal visit to the United States in 2026, largely due to the November mid-term elections with the pope not visiting countries in the run-up to elections.
Tensions have also been rising following news that, on January 22, the Pentagon held an unusual meeting with the then papal ambassador to the United States. While both the Vatican and Pentagon rejected some of the reporting about what was discussed, one Vatican source described the meeting to CNN as “unprecedented” and that it was “tense”.
Officials say Thursday’s meeting will mark an attempt to move beyond the public back-and forth and return to the behind-the-scenes diplomacy favored by the Holy See. Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican official, sees the pope-Rubio meeting as “cooling the rhetoric” while Brian Burch, the US ambassador to the Holy See, told reporters this week that the secretary of state is coming to have “a frank conversation about US policy, to engage in dialogue.”
And though the primary purpose of the trip is not political, there is potentially an upside if Rubio can dampen tensions. While many Catholics voted for Trump’s re-election, some experts question the political rationale of attacking the pope with CNN’s chief data analyst, Harry Enten, highlighting Pope Leo’s positive poll ratings. After criticizing the pope, the president also posted – and then deleted – an AI-image of himself as a Christ-like figure, which he later said depicted him as a doctor.
Potential common ground on Cuba
One of the topics also likely to be discussed on Thursday is Cuba. The Trump administration has ratcheted up its economic blockade of the island as it attempts to force Havana into a political deal and the US president has continued to raise the specter of military intervention.
The Vatican, meanwhile, is active diplomatically in Cuba and helped to broker the recent release of prisoners. The Trump administration has worked with the Catholic Church to distribute $6 million in humanitarian aid on the island, Rubio said Tuesday.
“We’re willing to get more humanitarian aid to Cuba, by the way, distributed through the church,” Rubio added.
Francesco Sisci, the director of the Appia Institute, a thinktank that follows Vatican diplomacy, said, “they will talk about Cuba, and it would be strange if they don’t. But the devil is in the detail.” While he said the Vatican would be supportive of a “transition” in Cuba’s political leadership, asking the pope to bless any violent action is very difficult.
Sisci told CNN that the church will “take into account the good will” of Rubio coming to the Vatican but will be “wary of manipulation.” He likened meeting as a modern day “Canossa,” referring to the time when the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV, in 1077 made a public apology and submission to Pope Gregory VII.
Rubio on Tuesday also suggested that the two sides would find common ground on concerns about the persecution of Christian minorities in Africa, where Leo recently visited.
“We have a lot to talk about with them, and I engage with them quite a bit on that front,” he said.
Still, the areas of disagreement between the papacy and the Trump administration are significant. Christopher White, a senior fellow at the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University said the war in Iran will be “top of the agenda” for the meeting along with “the treatment of migrants and the marginalized, AI” and USAID cuts.
“After the president’s unprecedented attack on the pope — and the blasphemous use of religious imagery — this is the administration’s attempt to reset relations with the Vatican and likely to help make amends with the many Catholics appalled by such behavior,” said White, who spent time with Leo XIV before his election and is the author of “Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy.”